Note: Some of this chapter is an overall view of Tony at age 4 and 5 and his parents' thoughts, not necessarily a chronological order of events.

Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel. I'm not getting paid to write this. I'm just having fun writing and hope you're having fun reading it.

A proper lady's life is a bore,

So slide, sell, flirt and bargain.

Maria and Anthony, Age 4 and 5

Maria's POV

Tony was such a daddy's boy. He followed Howard around everywhere trying to mimic his dad and join in on whatever Howard was building.

I wished to bond with my son as well but I wasn't an inventor so I took Tony along with me on shopping sprees and to social club meetings. I quickly realized he had too much energy to sit calmly and quietly at the socials.

Tony's POV

Mom had dragged me along to a social at Mr. and Mrs. Elliston's. At first I wanted to go because I'd been with my nannies a lot lately and I wanted an afternoon with Mom. But she was too busy having boring conversations to pay me any attention. I'm not really sure why she agreed to let me come along. There's nothing to do here!

According to Dad, anything could be made better with technology. The tech this party needed was a TV or better music. I wanted to switch the record to something with a guitar and drums, but all of the Elliston's records were classical ones. Even if they had better music Mom probably would've been ticked if I changed the music at someone else's party. She would've been ticked if I did it at a party at our house.

I went looking for a TV and found one. I turned it on low and flipped through the channels. News, a talk show host interviewing an author, and one of the soaps that my Mom and nanny like to watch. Ms. Elliston's daughter wandered in. She suggested we go looking for something to do in the basement.

At home, the basement is where we have things like a pool table, a poker table, a dartboard and other games. Their basement just had couches and tables. I wasn't sure why she thought this would be any more fun than the boring party, but then she said, "Do you want to go sledding?"

"It's summer."

"Stair sledding!" Then she hauled a sleeping bag out of a closet. "We sit on this so it is as slippery as snow, then we go sliding down the stairs!"

That sounded fantastic! We dragged the sleeping bag to the top of the stairs, sat on it, and went flying down! It was bumpity, bump, instead of smooth like a snowy hill, but still plenty of fun. We carted it up to the top and went down again. Up and down we went until an adult who thought kids should be just as bored as adults at parties yelled at us and told us to stop.

Maria's POV

And he had too much curiosity to stay by my, or the nanny's side while out shopping.

Tony's POV

It was the nanny's afternoon off so Mom took me with her to go dress shopping. She promised to take me for ice cream if I behaved. But behaving meant walking by her side looking at dresses and sitting on the floor outside of the dressing room so she could still see enough of me to know I hadn't wandered off or been snatched away.

I'd managed at the first store, but she hadn't found the dress she wanted there. Now we were on the third store. I'd built two toy cars in my head during the time we were out, but I didn't want to just keep imagining doing something more interesting than dress shopping. I wanted to do something more interesting.

While Mom was trying on another dress I decided to test out some of the sales techniques Obie had been teaching me. No one was at the sales counter so I snuck behind it and climbed up on the stool. It was a bit precarious (that means wobbly), but I managed. When a lady came up with a blue dress in hand she was startled to see me instead of a sales lady.

"A beautiful choice, madame. Might I suggest the sapphire earrings to go with it?"

Mom's head popped out of the dressing room, "Tony! Get over here." It was quite embarrassing to have my sale interrupted, but at least I could trust that when I got to her side she wasn't going to pop me one like Dad would've.

Another time…

Tony's POV

We were shopping for things to re-decorate the longue. There were these little glass dragonflies with blue and purple wings. Mom didn't want insects for decorations. She tugged me along to the next section, which had those statue things that are flat on one side so they can hold a row of books. I liked the one that had the front of an elephant on one end and its butt on the other. Mom didn't.

Next, we came across a wall of clocks, mostly classy boring ones. But there was one that had an hour glass attached to the second hand and the sand spilled into the bottom as the hand went round, and then when it got to the top the hourglass would bump into a little peg that would make it flip and the sand would start to fall again. I really wanted it, but Mom's face got all scrunched up like she thought it would look awful in the longue and she was tugging at my hand like she was tired of watching it, but also wasn't willing to let me leave her side.

She's overprotective, just like my nannies. The only way I can break free of them is when they get distracted with something they want. So I played along, letting her tug me away, and then when she became fascinated with a shelf of Greek and Roman figurines I snuck away back to the clocks.

Maria's POV

He'd wandered off. Again. And per usual, he had gravitated toward the only available technology for him to investigate.

"Mom, can I have that clock for my room?" He was pointing to the tacky one with the hourglass on the hand. I'd rather get him a normal hourglass. I said to him, "Hmm. So, you think wandering away should be rewarded?"

"I'm old enough to be by myself for a few minutes. Nothing happened to me and I didn't cause any trouble."

"You are too young to be on your own. And it's not about what did happen, Tony. It's about what could've happened."

"Mom," he said with a major whine in his voice. "Please?" Indicating the clock again.

"I'll ask the clerk to hold it. If you manage to stay by my side for the entirety of the rest of this outing I'll call and have it sent to the house. Wander off again and I'll call and cancel the order."

If one of his nannies had been with us she would've taken him someplace to sit and tell him that his wandering off had earned him 10 minutes of utter stillness. Awful for my active son. But I wasn't inclined to stop shopping for a timeout. That is why we had full time nannies, even when Howard and I were present to be with him.

Another time…

Maria's POV

Sometimes Tony was too busy ogling women to wander away. But sometimes those made him wander too.

Once, at a boutique, Tony had approached a buxom brunette and boldly inquired, "Hey beautiful, may I have your hand?"

The charmed women held out her hand and Tony placed a gentle kiss on the back of it.

I was embarrassed and rushed over.

The brunette smiled, "How old is he?"

"35 going on 6," I sighed.

"Good luck with that one. He's going to attract ladies to your door at the same rate candy attracts trick-or-treaters."

Flirting at 5. Another trait obtained from his dad. Howard didn't stray from our bed, but he had been a playboy before we met and continued to charm smiles out of ladies.

Tony, like Howard, liked to ham for the cameras so the magazines and tabloids were flooded with images of me and my son out and about.

But he was just there with me. We weren't bonding over shopping sprees and social gatherings.

But there were a few things we were able to bond over. Once, I took him to the play Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves. Tony had sat wide eyed and whispered, "It's like they jumped out of a TV and came to life." I was pleased that I had found an activity the two of us could enjoy together. Though I hoped my son didn't leach onto the morals of that particular tale, the moral being, it is okay to steal as long as you choose a target that deserves it.

I would never be an inventor, but I did enjoy creating with several mediums of art.

Howard's POV

I was conflicted about the amount of time An'tny spent molding with clay or paper mâché, or drawing and painting with Maria. I wanted my son focused on technology. But while listening to a sales pitch for a new invention, it clicked that artistic models were often stage one of getting board approval for new projects. So I allowed my brain to relent its unspoken complaints about art being an unnecessary distraction.

Howard's Return From the Captain America Expedition, Anthony, Age 5

Tony's POV

Dad came home alone. Obie had had me practicing reading facial expressions. The sadness was easy to read, but there was just a little crinkle around Dad's eyes that told me that the red shirts made Dad feel ashamed. Ashamed because he hadn't brought the Captain home. I switched to wearing other colors than red.

Celebrate the past,

Wish for the future,

And train for its inevitability

4th of July

Maria's POV

"Can we make a cake?"

My son was bouncing in front of me with enough energy that you'd've thought he'd already eaten a full cake topped with sugary icing, all on his own. I perused my checklist, "We have quite a lot going on already today, Tony. The caterers will be here within the hour to setup for the party. I didn't order cake, but there'll be plenty of deserts."

"But Mom, birthdays are supposed to be celebrated with cake."

"Who's birthday? Do you mean America's birthday? I guess technically it is, but cake isn't traditional for the 4th of July."

"Not America's birthday. Captain America's! Steve Rogers was born today in 1918. He's 57!"

Curse Howard for making the child believe Rogers was still alive. He'd crashed a plane 30 years ago. How could he still be alive? But I looked over and saw the excitement and hope in my child's eyes and couldn't bring myself to smash that dream. It was the only magical thing Tony believed in. All children deserve a bit of magic in their childhood.

Reluctantly, I called out, "Jarvis!"

"Yes, madam."

"Please see to it that the items on this list get completed."

"Of course, madam."

"Come along, Tony. We'll see if we have the ingredients to make a cake."

Tony's POV

I helped Mom make a vanilla cake. The frosting was vanilla too, but I divided it up into three bowls and then squeezed a container of red food coloring into one of the bowls and a container of blue into another. Then I used the mixer to blend them in.

It was a triple decker cake. I frosted the bottom layer with red, the middle with white and for the top layer I put red around the sides and blue across all of the top. Then I used a ruler and a protractor to create a perfect star, then I filled that in with white.

Howard's POV

I was tickled pink to see we were honoring the Captain's birthday along with that of our country. I asked, "Should we add a candle and make a wish?"

An'tny responded with his own question, "Do you think Artemis would listen?"

I was confused by the question. "Artemis?"

"The lady at the museum in Greece said that cakes are round because Artemis hunts by moonlight and that we use candles to represent our life and blow them out to send our wishes to her to be answered. Do you think she'd listen if the wish came from us instead of from Captain Rogers? Is it okay for us to make wishes on his behalf? What if we don't know what he'd actually want?"

I knew what he'd want. He'd want a life with Peggy. Steve had been a great soldier, but underneath it all, he wanted the wife, kids and picket fence. But I needed him alive and continuing his life as a soldier alongside my son.

"Let's give it a try."

Father and son blew out the candle together, wishing for the safe return of the long-lost soldier.

Howard & Tony, Age 4 and 5

Howard's POV

I had had several years to ponder about what had driven my son and Steve back to 1970. I had next to nothing to go on. But I could draw some conclusions based on what I knew of Steve Rogers. Captain Rogers. Above all else, he was a soldier. Soldiers fought wars. Therefore, Antn'y was probably involved in a war. Hopefully, he was just helping with the science end of things, but I knew from experience that war division scientist were prime targets. You can take down an army by eliminating the brains behind it. And, despite all his brains, my son possessed an adventurous soul, one that was unlikely to sit on the sidelines during battle.

I remembered getting a thrill out of flying the dear Captain through enemy territory, dodging bullets. It should've been terrifying, but it had been exhilarating. So, I thought, 'Perhaps I have that adventurous soul too.'

All that pondering led to today.

"We're starting with a BB gun. You'll practice with the real thing another day. But this is real enough. It's still dangerous, but it's quiet enough that you don't need ear protection. That way I can give you instructions."

Antn'y liked to know how things worked, so we disassembled the BB gun and together, we re-assembled it, while I explained the purpose of each part.

Then I showed Anthony the proper way to hold it, the proper stance, and how to improve his aim.

Over the weeks, and years the lessons progressed to different types of guns and different strategies, such as how to accurately shoot while on the run and how to and when to take cover.

Tony's POV

It was fun! Dad didn't just teach me how to use a gun he taught me tactics! He kept bringing up actual battles and explained where the soldiers were in each and why some of the strategies that had been used were good and why others were bad. And I got to pretend I was one of those soldiers, running, and hiding behind trees, and sometimes even climbing up into them. He setup an obstacle course of sorts, with balloons for me to shoot!

I wanted to blab to Mom about it, but Dad said that this was one of those times where it was best to follow Aunt Peggy's advice and just keep mum about it. Mom knew I was training to use guns, but Dad thought she might get upset if she knew we were practicing battle tactics, not just standing still and shooting targets. So I kept mum about that part, but Dad still let me bring a couple targets home to show her how good I was getting at hitting the bullseye.

Tony's POV,Adult Tony…Pick any Iron Man Battle

I zipped through the air, blasting targets. Yes, some of my weapons work off targeting systems. But some of them are manually aimed. I rolled so I was facing the sky and the enemies above. 3 seconds, 5 moving targets, while I too was moving, all destroyed.

I sometimes wondered which Avenger is the best shot. But I don't know that any of our egos could handle finding out it wasn't us. Best not suggest that competition.